There has indeed been an unfair treatment by employers who perceived HND as inferior to Bachelors Degree.

Here is my feeble attempt to guess a couple of reasons why
1. OND admission required less number of credits than Bachelors
2. A different exam PCE JAMB (easier than UME) is required for admission into ND.
3. Only a Pass in english is required for majority of OND courses.
4. Curriculum of Bachelors is different (not better) but of different objectives from OND and HND
5. University Libraries are better equipped than Polytechnics
6. Academic staff in universities include more Ph.D and Professors (i.e more academic achievement)
7. The Universities do lots of research and relate with academics internationally to keep up with developments
8. Polytechnic, as the name implies, are more technically oriented than universities
9. Universities have some courses that are research based like the education, medicine, agronomy, pharmacy which make the environment charged with too much efficos and grammar which is not required by Polytechnic.
10. Finally, employers know that HND holders have more technical skills than Bachelors holders but their needs in banks oil, telecoms and co, like teller jobs are not that technical and you dont have to be more than a school cert holder to do it, since the job market is full of both Bachelors and HND, first class, 2:1, 2:2, upper credit, lower credit. The companies who dont need your core skills either in engineering or accounting will prefer to employ a Bachelors holder who will speak with their customer, most times represent the company and when necessary take up a higher role in the management of the company. Every staff is a customer support staff. And by the nature of the academic orientation of students from universities, they are able to perform in these non skilled jobs and become professional at them. Speaking plenty grammar.

These 10 reasons are just my own opinion.

I hear now that universities and polytechnics will do the same exam (JAMB) next year and admission into ND will require five credits including maths and english. That is one very good way of setting the standard to same and removing discrimination. What now needs to be done is for the Polytechnics to achieve the same academically charged environment as universities. Lecturers in poly should also achieve Ph.D and do research. And grounds will level. Disrcimination will be removed. Not only in the mind but also in the content of education delivered to students of poly.

I totally condemn the discrimination I have seen in my work place. I dont support it all. I have B.sc from Nigeria plus M.sc from UK and even B.Sc(Nigeria) is discriminated against compared with B.Sc(UK) even within Nigeria. We all suffer it because its a Nigerian problem.

Your opinion of the reason make sense.
Does anyone one have any other(additional) opinion on the reasons why employers discriminate against HND?

You views are welcome, may be these views can further alleviate the anguish of HND holders.

femee:

Your opinion of the reason make sense.
Does anyone one have any other(additional) opinion on the reasons why employers discriminate against HND?
You views are welcome, may be these views can further alleviate the anguish of HND holders.

Most employers are Uni graduates, they prefer Bsc holders becos they are afraid that allowing the HND holders to work in d same place with the Bsc holders will make it known to the world that the polytechnics in nigeria have chunned out graduates that are theoretically and technically good, and hence relegate the nigerian university degree. They have vowed never to allow the nigerian degree certificates they hold to be relegated.

ishmael:

Most employers are Uni graduates, they prefer Bsc holders becos they are afraid that allowing the HND holders to work in d same place with the Bsc holders will make it known to the world that the polytechnics in nigeria have chunned out graduates that are theoretically and technically good, and hence relegate the nigerian university degree. They have vowed never to allow the nigerian degree certificates they hold to be relegated.

Thanks Ishmael, you are totally allowed to have your own opinion, but
1. you cant confirm this "vow" by employers,  Where did you hear it? So its not a fair thing say because such statement can potentially stirr up conflicts.
2. this your opinion is just blaming B.sc holders and trying to create enemity for them
and that is not the purpose of this topic.
3. We are talking about employers not b.sc holders, let's look at their reasons for discrmination objectively not make up sentimental reasons. If we dont get the reasons why they discriminate against us, we may not be able to help ourselves to prove we can also do these jobs and even better.
4. Let's tackle this reasons one by one so we can get a way forward, reposition our selves to look attractive to employers not fight or blame anyone else for getting the jobs.

Attacks on employers, B.sc holders or government can not change things. We have to REBRAND and REPACKAGE HND, our personality, our approach and our minds. SO people will see us in a different light and offer us jobs.

That is my opinion.

Mr Fox:

There has indeed been an unfair treatment by employers who perceived HND as inferior to Bachelors Degree.

Here is my feeble attempt to guess a couple of reasons why
1. OND admission required less number of credits than Bachelors
2. A different exam PCE JAMB (easier than UME) is required for admission into ND.
3. Only a Pass in english is required for majority of OND courses.
5. University Libraries are better equipped than Polytechnics
6. Academic staff in universities include more Ph.D and Professors (i.e more academic achievement)

I want to prove you wrong on some of the reasons you gave.

1. No university requires more than 5 credits, so also the polytechnics. some    polytechnics insist on 5 credits too.

2. it has never been proven that UME maths or english or any subject at all is more difficult than PCE maths or english or any other subject. The exams are of the same strength, the only difference is that u do 4 papers in UME and 3 in PCE.

3. Yes, a pass may be accepted in english for some science courses according to JAMB, some polytechnics accept it but most polytechnics still insist that it must be a credit. No social science or biz course will ever accept a pass in english. On the other hand again some universities still admit students with a pass in english or pass depending on the course.

5. Not true, some polytechnics are bigger and well equipped than some universities, so also are the libraries of these polytechnics.

6. Yes, agreed, but how many of these PhD holders and professors lecture undergraduate students? Most of them are there to carry out research and supervise post graduate students. Most undergraduates are being lectured by graduate assistants and Msc holders and may be some PhD holders; this is the same thing that happens in the polytechnics. For you to lecture HND courses you must have a minimum of Msc Degree which means some PhD holders and professors also lecture in the polytechnics. Professor Asiribo (presently HODept. of Statistics, Fed uni. of Agric, Abeokuta)lectured me Experimental Design and non-parametric techniques in the polytechnic while i was doing HND. Dr. Hassan (presently HOD Biological sciences dept, KADSU) was my Biometrics lecturer during my HND.

Thank you for your attempt to disproof my opinion which I did not state as facts and as much as I dont want to turn this into a debate. I want to agree with your effort which intended to disproof my theory, but ended up in support of it as I explain below,

from yours
1. Most universities requires no more than 5 credits but only SOME polytechnics require 5 credit. Most and some makes the difference. i.e many uni and few poly.

2. 4 paper compared with 3 paper exam from simple arithmetic 4>3 and 3<4. Level of difficulty is just from my own perception of the two exams which I took. I passed PCE more than UME and with a lot less effort.

3. According to JAMB, pass in english is required, therefore the polytechnics use credit in english to screen students, but officially its not a set requirement in the JAMB for university. From yours "On the other hand, only some (few) uni accept pass in english depending on course", again, many poly and few uni accept pass in english. What will an employer think of poly for this difference in standard?

5. And then again, only some( which means few) poly have big libraries, if you take a ratio , lets say hypothetically, 3:7 of poly have big library compared to Universities, judge by ratio, which graduates will the employers go for? I will say its the ones for the 7-3 uni. It means all poly should have big library like uni, equipped with books to the similar standards before we can equate the graduates from both.

6. Finally, in uni Profs and Ph.Ds lecture M.sc and M.Sc (while they either proceed to Ph.D or something) lecture B.sc . There is a tree of knowledge transfer from top researcher to the M.sc and then to B.sc.  Many times they are direct knowledge transfers, trust me, you dont want to get in to Professors that lecture undergraduates. Prof Bamiro VC of UI taught me Strength of Materials and Theory of elasticity,another prof Ofi taught me Thermodynamics (both did not get their first degree from Nigeria) and other Ph.Ds taught me while I was undergraduate so if you ask how many prof and Ph.d teach undergraduate, the answer to your question is that many profs and Ph.d teach undergrad compared with the few in poly.

Lets not mix up the topic here, its not "reasons why poly is better" , or "reasons why uni is better", its "reasons why employers discriminate against HND"and I am an employer as well as a worker who has witnessed the discrimination and giving my opinion of it so that HND can be rebranded and given better opportunities.

I dont want to start a debate, I stand for progress and development of people and the nation in general. Lets identify the mentality of employers and advice on how to repackage the HND certificate to change the perception (mind set) of employers.

Thank you.

NB. There are universities and there are universities, Top Universities are not of the same grade as lower grade unis. Though they enjoy almost the same treatment by employers since they also get Bachelors degree, but if its any consolation, they are not any better than most polytechnics. That is why I support that polytechnics should get B.Tech at least to kill the discrimination.

@Mr Fox

atleast you agree that some polytechnics are bigger than some universities, and even better than some universities in terms of infrastructures.

To me awarding BTech in polytechnics will not fully address the discrimination. Poly should be allowed to run PG programs from MTech to PhD level so that their lecturers will be products of polytechnics and not universities. most polytechnic lecturers are uni graduates who have no idea(s) of what technical and technological education is, and have succeeded in bringing down the quality of technological education in polytechnics; that is why some polytechnic graduates find it difficult to be self-reliant.

I agree. Though we have to take baby steps before we leap. The polytechnics should first start with B.Tech and then build a post graduate curriculum for M.Tech. In time we shall achieve excellence in M.Tech and Ph.D from poly.
For both M.Tech and Ph.D research work will be involved. And that is the basis of development.

Hopefully, things will turn out very well.

femee:

I agree. Though we have to take baby steps before we leap. The polytechnics should first start with B.Tech and then build a post graduate curriculum for M.Tech. In time we shall achieve excellence in M.Tech and Ph.D from poly.
For both M.Tech and Ph.D research work will be involved. And that is the basis of development.

Hopefully, things will turn out very well.

Thanx for concurring.

ishmael:

I want to prove you wrong on some of the reasons you gave.

1. No university requires more than 5 credits, so also the polytechnics. some    polytechnics insist on 5 credits too.

2. it has never been proven that UME maths or english or any subject at all is more difficult than PCE maths or english or any other subject. The exams are of the same strength, the only difference is that u do 4 papers in UME and 3 in PCE.

3. Yes, a pass may be accepted in english for some science courses according to JAMB, some polytechnics accept it but most polytechnics still insist that it must be a credit. No social science or biz course will ever accept a pass in english. On the other hand again some universities still admit students with a pass in english or pass depending on the course.

5. Not true, some polytechnics are bigger and well equipped than some universities, so also are the libraries of these polytechnics.

6. Yes, agreed, but how many of these PhD holders and professors lecture undergraduate students? Most of them are there to carry out research and supervise post graduate students. Most undergraduates are being lectured by graduate assistants and Msc holders and may be some PhD holders; this is the same thing that happens in the polytechnics. For you to lecture HND courses you must have a minimum of Msc Degree which means some PhD holders and professors also lecture in the polytechnics. Professor Asiribo (presently HODept. of Statistics, Fed uni. of Agric, Abeokuta)lectured me Experimental Design and non-parametric techniques in the polytechnic while i was doing HND. Dr. Hassan (presently HOD Biological sciences dept, KADSU) was my Biometrics lecturer during my HND.

guy, u so much against b.sc bete than h.nd
(fun intended)

Ishmeal u ar so so correct

Em-my:

guy, u so much against b.sc bete than h.nd
(fun intended)

I'm not against the Bsc degree, i'm only saying the truth on what i have experienced first as a polytechnic student/graduate and secondly as a uni student/graduate.

Default01: Ishmeal u ar so so correct

No need to suppress the truth. It must surely come out in one way or another.